Rewind
by Kamia6
Summary: AU, Life doesn't have a rewind button. You make your choices, then you live with them. Character death.


See, the problem in life is there's no rewind button. If you make a mistake, you have to live with it. If you want to go back to happier times, well, you're just stuck with memories. Both apply to me. Living with my aunt and uncle, I was never satisfied. Never satisfied with being a boring old moisure farmer, "Where's the excitement in that?" I asked myself. Now though, now if I could go back, I would. I would go back to where the worst of my problems were Uncle Owen yelling at me, or if I would be able to go to the Academy next year. I'm not saying I don't like being a Rebel, or meeting Han and Leia, or training as a Jedi, but I would have no problem just going back and having nothing to worry about.

The other problem with no rewind button is the mistakes. There's so many things I would change, if I could. I would never have gone to Bespin. Han and Leia probably would have been better off if I hadn't come, anyway. Briefly, I wondered, would _he_ hit the rewind button? What would he change? Maybe he has regrets. Maybe he is human. And that's what I was thinking as I headed off to meet the Emperor.

The walk to the Emperor was awkward, to say the least. He tried to convince me, I tried to convince him. We both must have known that neither would budge. I was too committed to the Light, he was too deeply immersed in the Dark. No matter what our alliances, we didn't want to fight each other. He was still my father, and I was still his son, after all. Palpatine had no such qualms. He didn't care about either of us, and I have no doubt that if I was his son, he would still try to kill me. But honestly, that idea was slightly disturbing, so I pushed the thought out of my head and concentrated on what I thought would be the fight of my life. Not much of a fight though, Sith Lightning kind of ruins a fight. Even with my lightsaber, it was hard to block. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground.

I was dying, Iis first thought numbly. I was such an idealistic fool to think my father would save me. I was a fool to trick myself into believing that, maybe, the Darkness had drifted away from him, even in the slightest. He doesn't have regrets. He's not even human anymore. Even as I called out to him,"Help me, Father," I knew he wouldn't save me. As I lay gasping out my last breaths he knelt over me. I think I mumbled something deliriously. I wasn't even sure what I was saying. I wanted to push him away, but I had no strength left. So I died.

* * *

My Master motioned to me to check the boy. Was he still living? I knelt over his dying body. "Hit rewind," he murmured. I blinked, confused. He twitched a little before going still. I checked his pulse and found none. "He is dead, my Master." He laughed maniacally. I stood there, my face looking unfeeling, but my emotions in a turmoil. How could I have let him die? I hadn't killed him, but I just stood there, watching. I think that was worse, that after pledging not to lose anyone else, I lost my son, I had sat there and watched it happen. I contemplated his last words. "Hit rewind," he had said. I wished I could hit rewind. I would have saved him. But life has no rewind button, so I settled for second best. I pushed the Emperor, still cackling gleefully, into the reactor shaft. His laughs turned to a long scream until he suddenly grew silent. His life force flickered out quickly.

Now I was alone. Alone in life. Nothing to live for. Everyone I had ever loved was dead. Except for... my daughter. Yet even she, probably hated me. She had the right to, of course. And suddenly I knew what I was going to do. Leia was all I had left, and I was going to help her. I would make sure Luke didn't die for nothing. I made my way into the Death Star's inner chambers, and fiddled with some wires before lighting a small section on fire. Minutes later, the second Death Star was blown to bits, taking the last evils of the galaxy with it.

**Hm... I feel like this story doesn't fit together well, like the different paragraphs belong to two different stories. If the first part of the last paragraph sounds oddly familiar, it's because I think I unintentionally borrowed it from my other story, "Stars" or rather, "Stars" borrowed it from this, because I wrote this first. Okay, enough of my rambling. Continue on with your life now.**


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